Introduction

This page provides some details on the process of mediatization that
took place between 1803 and 1815 in Germany (until 1806 the Holy Roman
Empire).

See the page on the Holy Roman Empire for background.

Secularization and
mediatization in 1803

Move this back to the page on the HRE. Only the tables will be
kept here.

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire meant that
anyone who was previously a directly subject to the authority of the
Emperor ceased to be subject to any superior authority. In practice,
however, not everyone survived
as sovereign into the new legal order that emerged in 1806.

Of those who were immediate in the Empire, some became sovereign;
the others became subjects of someone else: they were mediatized.

Most mediatizations took place in July 1806 as a consequence of the
formation of the Confederation of the Rhine. Within the area
covered
by the Confederation, those who became full-fledged members of the
Confederation
became full-fledged members of the international community as sovereign
entities. A few other mediatizations were carried out by Napoleon
between 1806 and 1813, and were not reversed by the Congress of Vienna.

The exact process of mediatization was delineated by articles 25-33
of the treaty founding the Confederation. Although the mediatized
families
did not acquire sovereignty and lost some of their powers (legislation,
final jurisdiction, control over police and military conscription,
right
to levy taxes), they kept their private estates and feudal rights,
including
lower jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, jurisdiction over local
policing, forests, hunting and fishing rights, mining rights, etc.
Mediatized
princes continued to be subject to a special jurisdiction in criminal
matters,
their estates were free from confiscation, and some of their
liabilities
were taken over by their new sovereigns. They were free to settle
anywhere
within the territory of the Confederation.

Over the course of the 19th c. the term mediatized families
began to slide.
The reason is that the act founding the German Confederation (8 June
1815)
defined special privileges for members of the mediatized families, in a
manner
reminiscent of what the Confederation of the Rhine had done. But it
left it to the individual members of the Federation to decide who was a
mediatized
family among its subject, and drew a list of princely families (in
1825) and
comital families (in 1829) to whom this status had been recognized.
These
families became the ones included in the Gotha and are known as standesherrliche.
Because of this process, there is some degree of discrepancy between
the upper
nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and that of 19th century Germany.

By the Rheinbundsakte
of July 12, 1806, a group of German states consisting in Bavaria,
Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau and a few others, seceded
from the German Empire. Article 24 specified a long list of
domains, hitherto the properties of various princes and counts who were
states of the Empire, henceforth to be ruled by the members of the new
Confederation. These 72 princes and counts were "mediatized" (the
old German term was "eximiert"; the word "mediatize" appears in French
and English about the same time, in 1815).

The process of mediatization was not unknown. It was called
"exemption" (from the obligations to the Empire). There
were also cases of partial mediatization, in which the territories of a
family were partly or wholly placed under the sovereignty of another
state, but the family nevertheless retained its seat and vote at the
Reichstag: Giech (subjected to Prussia 1791), Stolberg-Wernigerode
(sovereignty shared with Prussia, 1714), Stolberg-Stolberg and
Stolberg-Roßla (1730-38 partial subjection to Saxony),
Schönburg (subjected to Saxony, 4 May 1740), Ortenburg (ceded its
county to Bavaria, 1805), counts Fugger (to Bavaria, 7 June 1806).

A few weeks later, on August 6, 1806, the German Emperor relinquished
his title and dignity, and absolved all his subjects from their
obligations under the old Empire, leaving all other former states at
the mercy of political events. No rights were guaranteed to the
mediatized princes. Not before 1815 was their status defined.

1. Princes of the Empire

The following table summarizes what happened in the Council of Princes
between 1803 and 1806.

The first column lists the composition in 1792
(based on Pütter; the order of precedence is as in Beck 1755, with
spiritual and temporal princes alternating).

a name in italics indicates a state lost to France in
1801.

The second column lists the composition in 1803 as proposed by
the Reichsdeputations-Hauptschluß.
The order of precedence in the Hauptschluß is slightly different
from the earlier one.

a name in bold indicates a new state.

a number in italics between parentheses gives the ranking for
that state in column 1.

a date between brackets is the date of induction into the
Reichstag.

The third column indicates the possessor of the seat in 1803,
after the changes proposed by the Hauptschluß.

2. Secularization of the
Prelates Bench

The
following table lists the spiritual members of the two prelates'
benches (of Swabia and the Rhine) before 1803, and the disposition of
their lands to new owners in replacement of lost territories on the
Left Bank of the Rhine.

The first column lists the original members of the prelates'
benches.

Italics indicate a territory that was lost to France in
1801.

The second column lists subdivisions when the original territory
was divided between new owners.

The third column indicates the new owner of the secularized
territory.

The fourth column names the territory lost to France for which
the new owner was being compensated.

original seat (before 1803)

new owner

in replacement of

Schwäbische
Prälaten

Salmannsweiler

Margrave of Baden

Weingarten

F. von Nassau-Dillenburg

Ochsenhausen

G. von Metternich

Winneburg und Beilstein

Tannheim

G. von Schäsberg

Kerpen, Lommersum

Winterrieden (Burggrafschaft):

G. von Sinzendorf

Burggrafschaft Rheineck

Elchingen

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

Irsee

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

Urspring

Württemberg

Roggenburg

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

Roth

G. von Wartemberg

Wartemberg

Weißenau

G. von Sternberg

Blankenheim, Junkrath,
Geroltstein, Dollendorf

Schussenried

Grafen von Nesselrod-Reichenstein

Burgfrei, Mechernich

Grafen von Sickingen zu Sickingen

Hoheneinöden

Marchthal

F. von Thurn-Taxis

Petershausen

Margrave of Baden

Wettenhausen

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

Zwiefalten

H. von Würtemberg

Gengenbach

Margrave of Baden

Neresheim

F. von Thurn-Taxis

Heggbach

G. von Bassenheim

Pyrmont, Ollbrücken

Miedingen und Sullmingen

G. von Plettenberg

Wittem, Eyß

Gutenzell

G. von Törring

Gronsfeld

Rottenmünster

H. von Würtemberg

Baindt

G. von Aspremont-Lynden

Reckheim

Söflingen

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

St. Jörgen zu Isny

G. von Quadt

Wickerath (Wykradt), Schwanenberg

Buxheim

G. von Ostein

Mylendonk

Pleß

Grafen von Wartemberg

Ellerstadt, Aspach, Oranienhof

Grafen von Goltstein

Schlenacken

Rheinische
Prälaten

Kaisersheim

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

Ballei Coblenz

Ballei Elsaß und Burgund

Odenheim und Bruchsal

Markgrafen von Baden

Werden

king of Prussia

St. Ulrich und St. Afra (Augsburg)

Elector Palatine and of Bavaria

St. Corneli-Münster (Aachen)

St. Emmeram (Regensburg)

Arch-chancellor Elector

Essen

king of Prussia

Buchau

F. von Thurn-Taxis

Quedlinburg

king of Prussia

Herford

king of Prussia

Gernrode

Anhalt

Niedermünster in Regensburg

Arch-chancellor Elector

Obermünster in Regensburg

Arch-chancellor Elector

Burtscheid

Gandersheim

Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

Thorn

3. Changes in the counts'
benches

This table accounts for changes in the counts' benches from 1801 to
1803.

Italics indicate a territory that was lost to France in 1801.
(*): indicates that the new territory given in compensation in 1803
comes from the Prelates' benches.

Mediatization in 1806-15

Mediatization in the Treaty of Paris, July
1806

This table lists the mediatized territories listed in the treaty of
July 1806 creating the Confederation of the Rhine. The owners of
the territories are identified using Köbler (1999).

The territories listed in italics are actually annexed or ceded with
full sovereignty and ownership (articles 13-23 of the treaty).
The territories listed in art. 24, and not italicized here, are those
over which states were given "sovereignty rights" but not ownership.

Princes

This list accounts for the states (i.e., individual votes in the
Reichstag) who existed before 1803 and those who were created by the Hauptschluß
of 1803. It shows whether or not they joined the Rheinbund
(1806), the Deutsches Bund (1815), the Norddeutsches Bund (NDB, 1867)
and Deutsches Reich (DR, 1871), and other changes in status between
1806 and 1815. At the end are listed states that joined either
the Rheinbund or the Deutsches Bund but were not states before 1806.

N = No, Y = Yes
dates between brackets in the first column indicate the year in which
the status of prince (with individual vote) was achieved. Those
without dates had achieved it before 1582 (altfürstlich).

State

Status on July 12, 1806

Rheinbund (1806)

Changes in status, 1806-15

Deutsches Bund (1815-66)

NDB/DR (1867-1918)

States
existing prior to 1803

Austria

Austrian emperor
Aug 1804

N

Y

N

Bavaria

king of Bavaria
20 Dec 1805

12 Jul 1806

Y

joined 1870

Prussia

king of Prussia

N

Y

Y

Arch-chancellor Elector
(formerly Mainz)

Prince-Primate, 12 Jul 1806

12 Jul 1806

Grand-Duke of Frankfurt,
1810to Bavaria, Prussia 1815

Teutonic Order

N

secularized 14 Oct
1809

Hanover

Elector of Hanover

N

to Prussia 1806; to Westphalia 1807-13 and to
France 1810-13;
king of Hanover, Oct 1814

Counts

This table starts from the complete list of members of the counts'
benches in 1792 above. it accounts for their status after 1806:
whether they
became princes in 1803 (by the Hauptschluß) or 1806 (by
joining the Rheinbund), or else were mediatized.

The first column lists the families

The second column indicates:

The date of title, i.e. the year in which the title of
Reichsgraf
or Reichsfürst was conferred.

The date of admission, i.e. when the family was admitted to the
counts' bench and became
effectively reichsständisch. "A" means altfürstlich
or altgräflich, a date of admission prior to
1582.

The third column indicates the bench to which the family
belonged. The abbreviations of names of benches are as follows:

Wt = Wetterau

S = Swabia

F = Franconia

W = Westphalia

The fourth column names the territories possessed by the family
(when they differ from the family name)

"P" indicates that the seat was held personaliter.

The fifth column indicates whether a new title or territory was
acquired (in 1803, unless otherwise specified).

The last column indicates in which sovereign state the family was
mediatized.

The 19th c. Standesherren

This table lists the families that could have been/were considered as Standesherren in the 19th century.

It is based on four lists or sources:

the list of princely families whose heads received the title of Durchlaucht
(by application of the Bundesbeschluß 18 Aug 1825) and of comital
families whose heads received the title of Erlaucht (by
application of the Bundesbeschluß 13 Feb 1829), as given in Meyer
& Zoepfl: Corpus Iuris Confoederationis
Germanicae. vol. 2, p. 177-78, 211-12. 1859.

Meyer and Zoepfl cite the lists provided to the Diet by

Austria (Protokollen,
1829, p. 57, 341;
1830, p. 530)

Baden (1829, p. 64)

electoral Hesse (1829, p. 108)

Nassau (1829, p. 109)

Saxony (1829, p. 128)

Hesse-Darmstadt (1829, p.
128, 340)

Bavaria (1829, p. 382; 1831, p. 631)

Württemberg
(1829, p. 407-08)

Prussia (1829, p. 425-26)

Hannover (1829, p.
548-49)

Mecklenburg (1830, p. 1103).

the list of princely and comital families entitled to the styles
of Durchlauchtand Erlaucht, as given in the Almanach de Gotha (e.g., ed. 1833,
p. 107). This list also provides the names of the states who
declared each family to the German Diet.

Limburg-Styrum
Limburg, branch of the counts of Berg and Altena (agnates of the dukes
of Cleve and Berg)
eldest branch extinct 1508, county of Limburg passes part to Neuenahr
and later to Bentheim, part to Daun and Falkenstein
junior branch did not possess title of count or immediate lands (Styrum
a fief of Berg)